* As a matter of courtesy please advise Rev. Sjirk Bajema, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.

EPHESIANS 6:18-20

(Readings: 2 Chron.30:13-27; Eph.6:10-20)

The Power of Your Prayer!

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ…

The verses 14 till 17 described the best protection a soldier could have in the first century AD.

Nothing could beat it – in fact with this armour you could beat them!

This was the latest state-of-the-art personal combat gear.

So the apostle quite rightly compares the equipment of the Roman soldier then to what the believer has to put on in his Lord Jesus Christ.

The Christian must make sure he’s fitted up in the very best way for service to His Lord.

But that must make us wonder, too.

For if the verses 14 till 17 describe the very best that you can have, what else would you need?

Imagine the equivalent in weaponry today.

Move over Ironman!

Time to retire Robocop!

No one’s going to get in your way!

Ah, yet someone could, though.

Even if you have the most powerful guns and the most invincible armour, you could still fall apart.

Because it is what’s inside you that counts just as much!

You see, it’s also about your attitude.

It’s vitally important that your motivation is focussed the right way.

And since this is about what matters spiritually the right frame of mind won’t be your own.

It has to be the Lords’!

No wonder verse 18 begins, “And pray intheSpirit…”.

As the apostle Paul seeks to tie this altogether, he brings in what you must have to keep it altogether.

Because you must be looking to Him!

That’s what prayer is – it’s being completely humble before the Lord alone.

One of the 19th century hymns expresses it well.

Verse 3 of “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus” says, “Put on the gospel armour, each piece put on with prayer; where duty calls or danger, be never wanting there.”

This is the sense which is the essence of service.

You are ready – at any moment – to do His will.

Because you’re right there waiting!

The military theme fits in again so well.

For isn’t it the good soldier who is always ready for action?

He won’t be found lacking on the day of battle.

In fact, every day is part of the war for him.

He’s trained up, so that he’s psyched up.

He’s waiting for the command.

Just like you have to be prayerfully looking up!

There is a psalm which conveys this well – Psalm 123.

The verses 1 and 2 there say, “I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven.

“As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy.”

Congregation, there is a total involvement here in the text.

This is complete commitment.

Four times the Greek word for “all” appears in verse 18.

You see, this is no mere nominal prayer, like some would do genuflecting as they come into certain churches.

Or perhaps quickly saying before a meal too?

Nor can it a traditional prayer for set times and in a certain way.

This is what fills up your life – through and through!

All this leads us naturally into the first aspect of the text this morning.

For THIS PRAYER IS ALL THE TIME.

Think about it: If we believe in the value of commitment in a relationship, and we all do, then there must be no doubt that we must be committed to the Lord.

Isn’t the relationship we have with Him the most important one of all?

Isn’t that relationship the one that lasts long after any other connection has been long gone?

That’s why this text begins by asking you about your prayer life.

Because you do pray.

You cannot be a believer and not pray.

But what is the place of prayer in your life?

How important is it to you?

Here it doesn’t matter whether you’ve been a Christian for 80 years or the Lord converted you last year.

The question comes to us all because the struggle is with us all.

Yes, this is a battle.

The same one we are fighting against by using the pieces of armour is the same one who strikes us at the very core of our motivation.

The more Satan can keep us away from communing with God the more he knows he can get his way.

A difficulty we have, however, is that we think we can stop with the pieces of armour.

Then we may think that it’s about what we know.

It’s quite true that knowledge is very important.

But why is it important?

So that we can be happy in the knowledge itself?

Is it all about hanging up some degree or diploma in the faith?

Quite the opposite!

The more you grow in the knowledge of God and what He’s done in Christ the more you are driven to prayer!

Ah, it could actually be that we’re not growing spiritually enough at all.

For if we were reading the Bible every day, if we were studying church history, if we were reflecting on those articles on Christian leadership – even that good series on video about biblical ethics – we would be realising more and more our need of prayer.

Isn’t this how we are stirred whenever we go to a Christian conference?

This word of the apostle Paul also exposes those who pray when it suits them.

You might remember how the Sunday after 9/11 the churches in America were full.

Whenever there’s trouble or hardship people feel the need to pray.

But because it’s not the need to pray everyday it’s not really prayer.

It’s no different to the man praying while stuck hanging on a piece of wood in the middle of the ocean.

Of course he prays – he’s going to cover all his options!

There is no sense of compulsion in what he’s doing, though.

Unless he was a believer of course.

For if he wasn’t and he was praying, he’s actually proving he isn’t a Christian.

Because that’s the only time he does it!

The story is told of a committee that was assigned to tour a factory to judge its efficiency.

These people were shown the various departments where many large machines were making a lot of noise.

Then they were led to a much smaller and quieter room containing nothing but control panels.

One of them said there, “This isn’t very important.

“Nothing’s happening here!”

The guide smiled, “Oh, but you misunderstand, sir.

“This is the most important room of all.

“This is where the power is distributed to the entire factory.”

Dear Christian, the place of prayer is the “power room.”

You need that room that drives all the other rooms.

You need that quiet space, as Jesus says in Matthew 6 verse 6.

And you need that every day.

There’s no day you can enter into without looking His way.

Imagine praying only on the 1st of January every year!

And imagine that you would pray that day, “Give us this year our annual bread!”

Silly, isn’t it?

Because you know you have to pray every day!

Don’t you have to eat every day?

So we have seen that THIS PRAYER IS ALL THE TIME.

Next we come to the word that says THIS PRAYER IS IN MANY DIFFERENT WAYS.

As the apostle Paul goes on in verse 18, “pray … with all kinds of prayers and requests.”

Now, we might wonder here.

Is this about what we should have in our prayers?

You know, something like the A.C.T.S. acronym – which stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.

Well, there is supplication here, in the word “requests.”

So this tells us there are different parts to the prayers we pray.

But this also tells us about the form of prayer.

For we should not think that prayer is something done always in the same way.

Some religions teach that.

Five times a day you need to bow down, face a certain direction, and recite certain words.

Not only is that very limiting, it’s not living by faith.

Because faith is a relationship with the Lord.

And prayer is the whole range of possible communication between you and Him.

There will be prayer in private, as the Lord alluded to in Matthew 6 – but also the prayer in public we heard of in 2nd Chronicles 30.

So there is the prayer we pray on our own.

Our Lord Himself often took such time out.

This is the prayer you do on your own, and you should always be doing this.

But there’s also the public prayer, church prayer, fellowship prayer.

This is the prayer we read the apostles with the early church doing in Acts 1 verse 14 and many other places.

There is also another distinction we make here.

For there is the unspoken and the spoken prayer.

You don’t always need words, and sometimes it’s good to have words.

And you might do that prayer on your knees, sitting down, or standing up.

It could be in a room or walking along the street.

There was one University lecturer I knew who appreciated praying while riding his bike to work.

He said that was his quiet time with the Lord.

Some were a bit concerned for his safety, though.

They asked him if he prayed with his eyes open!

And you can pray that way too!

Where does it say you have to close your eyes?

Then we can break up prayer into what is very orderly and what is quite spontaneous.

While our prayers must be intelligible they could vary from a thorough framework to the quick cry to heaven!

You see, the one strand you see right through all these is what you don’t see.

Because it’s all done “in the Spirit.”

Then, my friend, how long you take won’t matter.

Whether that is privately or publicly.

Because you are talking to God.

And talking to Him in a real and meaningful way.

No vain repetition here.

Rather, the Spirit with our spirits communes in the most special way to the Lord.